[ferreter51]

Having dealt with intrusive rabbits, a neighbour's hungry chickens, pigeons, rats, mice and other pests, I now have moles.  They are coming up exclusively in one of my brassicas beds and seem to have left all other beds alone - so far!  I have used traps in the past, but surrounding fields are literally covered in mole hills, so trapping may not be the answer here.  Has anyone experience of using sonic mole scarers and are they any good?

[arugula]

Yes. We too are surrounded by fields full of molehills. We have a solar-powered sonic scarer which is used permanently in conjunction with strategically set mole traps (once you work out the layout of the tunnel system and how they are using it). The solar-powered sonic scarer does seem to discourage them, but we also feel it beneficial to move it around every so often.

[ferreter51]

Yes. We too are surrounded by fields full of molehills. We have a solar-powered sonic scarer which is used permanently in conjunction with strategically set mole traps (once you work out the layout of the tunnel system and how they are using it). The solar-powered sonic scarer does seem to discourage them, but we also feel it beneficial to move it around every so often.

Thanks for that.  I am thinking in terms of 3 or 4 of the solar powered type.  Traps are probably not usable at the moment as the mole hills are just in one bed and the bed is full of growing brassicas, so  finding the tunnels would be a very big problem.  I suppose that 60 years of life should have taught me not to be surprised at anything, but this bed in in the centre of the garden, so they must have been tunnelling, but not throwing up mole hills for a minimum of 40 yards from the far side of the garden wall to the nearest point of the bed.  I am assuming that they come under one or more of the walls (on 3 sides) and not under the stream on the fourth, which lies about 50 yards from the bed.  I would have expected to see more mole hills outside this bed.

[Carollan]

My single solar mole scarer doesn`t seem to scare anyone,even though it makes the noise and does the vibrating.The cheeky little mole pushed a mole hill right up by the side of it the other day.I have only caught mice in my humane mole catcher,so I obviously need some help in telling  a mouse hole from a mole hole:( It certainly is a constant battle against pigeons,mice,moles,birds,rabbits,cats ,pheasants,insects etc etc Keep smiling,they don`t get everything!

[shokkyy]

I had moles coming up in my veggie patch a few weeks back. I put a couple of mole scarers in it, one each side, they spent a day coming up near the scarers and then left the patch. The only time they've been back is when the scarers ran out of charge, I think because we had a day of very gloomy weather, so I had to disconnect and leave them in a sunny spot so they could recharge properly. Once I did that and put them back in the patch, the moles immediately left again. You do need to make sure you're herding the moles in a direction where they have somewhere to go, or they'll end up trapped and won't be able to leave.

[Salmo]

I like the idea of being a mole herder.

Moles have a network of tunnels which can be up to a foot deep but are usually about 5 inches under.

Where there are surface tunnels is their chosen feeding area. Usually some kind person has watered generously or incorporated organic matter to attract worms. Sometimes it is worth setting traps in these. Put your heal on one or two and see which are pushed up regularly.

Your best bet is to try and find where deeper tunnels pass under a path or other obstacle. Do this by probing a cane into the soil every few inches. Where you think you can feel a tunnel dig down with a trowel and set your trap in the tunnel.

If you catch a mole it is worth leaving the trap in that tunnel for several days. Either several moles are using the same tunnels or another mole moves in when you have removed one.

[Jonajo]

the sonic mole scarer I have is brilliant. i have one on the lawn at home (not a mole hill in sight) and have one in the middle of the allotment after having something of a problem with the blighters. Now they leave my plot alone...ok, they might gang up on someone else's plot.....